Friday, July 15, 2016

Award Created in Memory of Conseula Francis

The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance
(IASPR) is proud to announce the creation of a new essay award in honor
and memory of our colleague Conseula Francis. The winning essay will
receive a $250 USD cash prize and be published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Popular Romance Studies, pending any needed revision according to the judges’ comments.

The Francis Award is for the best unpublished essay on popular
romance media and / or the logics, institutions, and social practices of
romantic love in global popular culture. Essays may focus on work in
any medium (e.g., fiction, film, TV, music, comics, or advice
literature) or on topics related to real-world courtship, dating,
relationships, and love.

Conseula Francis’s work on popular romance fiction focused on African
American authors and representations of Black love, and priority for
the Francis Award will be given to manuscripts that address the
diversity of, and diversities within, popular romance and romantic love
culture: e.g., diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, class,
sexuality, disability, or age.